Dawn's Early Light
by AstraPerAspera
Summary: Early in the morning, Jack and Sam share a few quiet moments as they prepare for Selmak's memorial service. A prelude to the short story "In Passing" published in "Homeworlds" (Fandamonium. Sally Malcolm, ed.).


_Author's Note:_ _Homeworlds_ _, published by Fandamonium and edited by Sally Malcolm, is a collection of SG-1 and SGA short stories. As the author of "In Passing", I wrote this little prologue for myself as a way of setting the stage for the events in that story. For those who are Sam and Jack shippers, I thought I would share it as a sort of unofficial "bonus feature". Hope you enjoy!_

 **Dawn's Early Light**

 _A Prologue to "In Passing"_

by

AstraPerAspera

It was a bird that woke him—one of those damn, early-rising song birds that seemed to have nothing better to do than trill merrily at the first hint of dawn. Jack hated merry trilling. Any kind of trilling, for that matter. And when it roused him up from a dreamless, sound sleep, it was all the more irritating.

But he wasn't the only one awake. Although her back was to him, he could feel the tenseness in her body, warm beside him, and he could tell by her breathing that Sam wasn't asleep, and probably hadn't been for quite some time. It didn't surprise him, considering what was on the agenda for the day. In fact, he wondered if she'd gotten any sleep at all.

Rolling over on his side, he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. She curved into his body and grasped his hand, kissing it before pulling it against her cheek. She didn't speak. She didn't need to. And damned if he knew what to say either. Maybe just holding her like this would be enough.

It seemed to be. He felt her relax in his arms. Whatever it was she was thinking, at least she seemed willing to accept his gesture of support, both literally and figuratively. And if she wasn't interested in talking about it, he was okay with that, although he had a pretty good idea where her thoughts were right now.

Burying your dad once was hard enough. Burying him twice—well, it went above and beyond the call, as far as Jack was concerned.

Too bad they couldn't just stay here all day like this. The hell with the Tok'ra and their memorial service, anyway.

Maybe he could call Siler. A slight gate malfunction wouldn't take much to achieve. After all, it happened all the time. Damned inconvenient timing, to be sure, but such was gate travel.

There was only one problem with that idea. Shutting down the gate would only delay the inevitable, not eliminate it, since, technically, they were the ones bringing the guest of honor. Nothing he could do, short of obliterating Jacob's and Selmak's ashes entirely, would keep her from having to going through this. The best he could do was to make sure she didn't go through it by herself.

"In an odd way, I'm actually looking forward to today." Her voice was husky, coming from the depths of his embrace.

So much for trying to protect her from what lay ahead. He supposed he should have known better, anyway.

"Really?"

He felt her nod. "Really."

She sounded convincing, although he wasn't sure if that was for his sake or her own.

"So…you're okay, then?"

She kissed his hand again and snuggled her face against it.

"Yeah. I am. I mean, sure…I still miss my dad. I wish he could have lived long enough to see the fruit of his and Selmak's' efforts to bring down the Goa'uld."

"And for you to show Shanahan the door."

Jack could almost feel her grin, envisioning those amazing cheekbones flaming bright red. Good. At least he'd made her smile. "Yes. That too." She turned over and wrapped her arm around his chest, nestling her head in the hollow of his shoulder. "But I'm past grieving for him," she continued. "I could have been doing that six years ago—filled with regret over hardly even knowing him. But these last years have been a gift and a privilege, and the fact that they're over doesn't diminish that. I just don't want to dwell on them any more. I don't think he'd want me to. I'm ready to move on."

She'd told him as much the day Jacob had died. Jack was unsure if she'd only been saying it to make herself feel better at the time, but over the past weeks they'd talked about it enough for him to know she truly did feel that way. So, maybe no phone call to Siler after all. If she was ready to move on, then it wasn't his place to stop her.

The alarm went off and he felt her tense again in his arms. Well, saying and doing were two different things. And just because she said she was ready to move on didn't mean turning that final page was necessarily going to be easy. All the more reason to make sure she didn't have to do it alone.

That's why he'd be there. Teal'c and Daniel too. Selmak had been an ally and a friend, to be sure, but the truth was, they were doing this for Sam.

He reached over and shut off the alarm, and then he kissed her.

"I've got your six, Carter," he told her, completely serious. There was understanding in her eyes, and she nodded solemnly.

"I know. Thank you."

He briefly thought of Siler again, but no. There was a determined set to her jaw that he recognized only too well. She had this. All he needed to do was step back and let her get it done.

Some days, for him at least, that was the hardest job of all.


End file.
